Season 8

JohnAge: 30’sLocation: Houston, TexasAddiction: AlcoholWhat’s memorable: “Oh yeah, I’m the party.” Dude’s a super fun guy! And in some serious denial. He’s been arrested 24 times for drunk and disorderly conduct and has been hospitalized more than 20 times. His family thinks he has a death wish. He doesn’t think he has a problem. Also memorable – the profoundly disabled little brother, the obese sister who John thinks should lose weight before talking to him about his drinking, how he was wasted at his mother’s funeral.

Official Synopsis: John is a flight attendant who loves his job, but his lifestyle is fueling his alcoholism. When he was a boy, John’s parents focused their attention on his “profoundly retarded” brother. His mother blamed herself for the disability and turned her anger towards John. Now John’s alcoholism leaves him prone to blackouts.

DionicioAge: 30’sLocation: El Centro, CaliforniaAddiction: HeroinWhat’s memorable: What a great dad he is, other than the whole heroin addict thing. “I love my family to death, it just seems that heroin comes first, above all.” He shoots up before seeing his little boys because he’d rather be high around them than not see them at all. I don’t think he knows that his boys know exactly what’s going on. Ugh. Sad.

Official Synopsis: Growing up with an abusive mother, Dionicio turned to crime and drugs as a teen. He became a father, but couldn’t handle the pressure of providing for a family. Now he spends his time panhandling and shooting heroin.

Official Synopsis: Every day, Donna, 47, and her son, Josh, 20, cause a storm of drinking, fighting, and chaos in the overcrowded home they share with Donna’s sister, mother, and a stable-full of dogs and cats. Raised by alcoholic parents, Donna was exposed to violence and abuse at an early age, and later drank so heavily that she lost custody of her two children. Josh, now an adult, has moved back in with Donna, and they have become drinking buddies. Both mother and son need help desperately to save themselves and to stop the cycle of alcoholism from being passed down to another generation of their family.

Update: Ryan passed away on December 14, 2014 of cirrhosis of the liver.

Official synopsis: A chef for 15 years, Ryan dreams of running a kitchen in a four-star restaurant. But alcoholism stands in his way. Ryan always felt like the black sheep of the family compared to his successful, police officer brother. His mother supplies him with alcohol so that he doesn’t go into withdrawal. But now the family feels that “it’s not if we lose him, but when.”

What’s Memorable: He was a difficult child with ADHD that couldn’t handle it when his mom had twins and he felt left out. His screaming at his elderly grandmother “WE NEED TO GO RIGHT NOW” so that he can go get sticks. He behaves like a spoiled, petulant child but seems capable of so much more.

Official synopsis: When Jason’s mother and stepfather had twins, Jason felt abandoned. He dropped out of school and turned to drugs. Now he lives with his grandmother in a retirement community and takes up to 30 mgs. of Xanax and shoots heroin up to five times a day. After an overdose, Jason had multiple hospitalizations and four grand mal seizures. Worn out from the drama, his family is frustrated with their inability to get Jason to stop using drugs and into treatment.

LornaAge: 52Location: Los Angeles, CaliforniaAddicted to: CrackWhat’s Memorable: Lorna had some sweet moves, she was quite the Soul dancer. And she’s been addicted to crack for 30 years, which doesn’t happen often. And her poor son, born addicted to crack.

Official synopsis: Once a Hollywood success story, Lorna is now a crack addict. She danced on Soul Train and for the “Ike and Tina Turner Revue” in Las Vegas, then landed a big job at A&M records. But the music industry party scene led to drug addiction, and she even abandoned her three children. Lorna needs to get clean and make amends with her kids before it’s too late.

AndrewAge: 21Location: London, Ontario, CanadaAddicted to: OxyContinWhat’s Memorable: The living in a motel room with his 2 little brothers and father because his addiction (and his dad’s gambling) has bankrupted them.

Official synopsis: Once bright, likable, and athletic, Andrew has become a gaunt, menacing OxyContin addict. As a child, Andrew learned to manipulate his father, Dan, who now admits, “I can’t stand up to Andrew. He’ll threaten to commit crimes and trash our motel room. I’d rather give him money for a pill than have him out robbing innocent people.” Andrew, his father, and two brothers have been evicted seven times due to property damage and financial hardship, and they can go days without food. Can an intervention help Andrew–and make his father realize that if he doesn’t get tough with Andrew, the whole family will be destroyed?

JoeAge: 24Location: Long Grove, IllinoisAddicted to: Heroin, Self-asphyxiationWhat’s Memorable: The choking game. Also, how he was always the outcast and never fit in with anyone until he started doing heroin. “I guess I’d rather fit in with heroin addicts than not fit in with anybody” – Joe

Legacy Update: As of Brian’s episode (July 2016) Joe had been sober 3 years after a relapse and some time in prison.

Update: Joe Spina tragically passed away on September 1, 2018 after suffering from a major infection and then a brain injury. You can read more about what happened on his dad’s Facebook page here and here.

Official synopsis: Though he grew up in a close-knit family, Joe has felt lonely and isolated all his life. As a child, he was tormented by neighborhood boys, and his father viewed him as a failure. At age 8, Joe learned “the choking game,” in which a person uses his hands to cut off the oxygen supply to his brain to get high. Joe loved the sensation, and choked himself daily throughout childhood. In high school, Joe discovered drugs, and now he’s a heroin addict. Joe is killing himself, and his family is desperate to intervene.

AdamAge: 28Location: Salt Lake City, UtahAddicted to: Alcohol (vodka)What’s Memorable: How much he seems to hate himself and how much pain he’s in, his unwillingness to discuss what happened when he was serving in the war, the angry girlfriend who seems to have total control over him except when it comes to drinking.

Official synopsis: Adam was once one of top skiers in the United States. As a Marine, he served in 15 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan on terrorist-related missions. But when he came back home from overseas, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and started drinking. His alcohol abuse is ruining his body.

AmberAge: 20’sLocation: Portland, OregonAddiction: Bulimia, AlcoholWhat’s Memorable: Trophy wife syndrome: She got the life she always thought she wanted, but wasn’t never happy with it. Also, her family that signed a contract saying they would go to family treatment if she agreed to get help, and never went.

Official synopsis: When Amber was molested as a young child, she bottled up her emotions. She began binge eating, and became bulimic because she wanted to be popular and beautiful like her older sister. After high school, Amber had a baby and married, and managed to look like she was living an idyllic family life. But she was actually depressed, drinking heavily, and purging regularly. Her family hopes an intervention can help her confront her problems.

MiriamAge: 38Location: Fresno, CaliforniaAddiction: PCPWhat’s Memorable: Miriam’s story and personality are memorable on their own, but just the fact that she’s been doing PCP for 25 years is what’s amazing. I didn’t even know PCP was still out there, much less that someone could do it for that long.

Official synopsis: A charismatic reverend at a wedding chapel, Miriam, 38, is adored by her clients, but suffers inner torment. Sexually abused as a child by someone she trusted, Miriam turned to drugs at a young age, and now she’s addicted to P.C.P. Her family has practically given up on her, and she risks losing her daughter’s love. Can Miriam’s desperate family convince her to get on the plane to treatment?